Digital Support Groups: How Online Communities Are Replacing In-Person Cessation Programs
In-person cessation groups are declining. Online communities—Reddit, Facebook groups, Discord servers—are growing. The digital support group is accessible 24/7, anonymous, and peer-led. It's also unregulated, variable in quality, and unstudied.
r/stopsmoking has 200,000 members—more than all in-person cessation groups in the US combined. The community provides peer support, accountability, and information—at any hour, from any location. **The digital support group is accessible, anonymous, and effective. It's also invisible to the healthcare system, unregulated by any authority, and almost entirely unstudied by the research community. The most significant development in cessation support in the past decade has happened outside the healthcare system entirely.**
